Oilopps.com: Understanding offshore recruitment

What makes Simon Kendrick different to others involved in offshore recruitment is that, by his own admission, he knows what it’s like to get covered in drilling mud.

Kendrick’s background makes him ideally qualified for his new venture, oilopps.com. Prior to working in the oil industry he worked in recruitment in the UK.

When the current price drop took hold and his contract didn’t renew he saw it as an opportunity to build up a recruitment portal.

“Most recruitment portals,” Kendrick says, “are either set up by software or web developers who know little of nothing about recruitment, or by recruitment agencies who know little or nothing about the industry they recruit for.”

Having worked in both recruitment and the oil industry Kendrick understands recruiters needs, and also he gets the workers’ needs and daily lives.

“I know what it’s like to get covered in drilling mud. I know what it’s like to count down the days until the inbound chopper arrives, and hopefully these insights can make my products something both recruiters and employees benefit from using,” he tells Maritime CEO.

Oilopps.com, of course, has launched at a time of almost unprecedented layoffs in the offshore sector. Nevertheless, Kendrick contends there’s still plenty of job hopping happening to keep him busy.

“One thing to remember is that if 20% of people have been laid off, there are still 80% of people in work,” he points out, adding: “On average most companies when not in a phase of growth will have a natural turnover of staff of around 5%, so there are still openings, albeit fewer than normal.”

Before finishing up with Maritime CEO, Kendrick turns to the recent Statoil-linked helicopter crash off Bergen which killed 13 people. Kendrick is adamant that more needs to be done on the safety side in offshore.

“I’d like to express my heartfelt sympathy to the families of the people who died in the Norwegian chopper crash recently,” Kendrick says. “In this day and age it simply isn’t acceptable for ordinary people to encounter such a tragedy while they’re trying to earn an honest living. There have been an alarming number of incidents in the British sector recently and for this to continue unchecked is a complete travesty of justice.”